Deltona School Plan May Rid Traffic Trouble

DELTONA — Parents may get relief from traffic at Deltona Lakes Elementary if the Volusia County School Board gives the green light to road and parking improvements at the school.

School officials will consider a plan on Tuesday to add 79 parking spaces, widen the bus loop and start work on another exit from the school.

Most of the work could be complete this school year, said Tom McLelland, of the district's Facilities, Planning and Research Department. However, completion of a new exit hinges on the county's proposal to extend Providence Boulevard west of the school. County officials estimate that work may take two years.

Traffic has been a major problem in recent years at Deltona Lakes Elementary on Adelia Boulevard because of rapidly increasing enrollment. Enrollment increased by nearly 400 students this year for a count of 1,722 students. School officials have tried to cope with heavy traffic by asking the sheriff's office for deputies to help direct traffic and by sending letters home to parents with traffic suggestions.

County officials initially set a starting date of six months for the extension, said John Harper, a county engineering assistant. But the county must buy and relocate a number of houses, he said, and that could delay the work until October 1989.